Weekend Project: Make Homemade Wine in Your Instant Pot

Unless you've been living underneath a rock, then you're probably already aware that the Instant Pot — a combined slow cooker and pressure cooker — is one of the trendiest kitchen appliances on the web. We can definitely see why — who wouldn't want to make a quick-and-easy soup, potato dish, or steak dinner with just the click of a button?

Now, thanks to a sarcastic yet totally relatable Facebook meme — and an ambitious food blogger and recipe aficionado named David Murphy — the Instant Pot can also be used to make wine.

"Why hasn't someone figured out how to put grapes in the crockpot and have it turn into wine? It's like no one tries anymore," the post read.

Murphy, who is a New Jersey resident and fine-dining expert with more than 20 years of experience under his belt, took the joke as a challenge. After all, he is the proud owner of a 6-quart DUP Plus Instant Pot ($100, Amazon) and member of the Instant Pot Community on Facebook.

"Believe it or not, it’s not as hard as you might think it is to make Instant Pot wine, but it does take a little bit of patience," Murphy wrote in a blog post that details his wine-making experience.

Apparently, a little patience, a 64-ounce bottle of Welch's Grape Juice, a cup of granulated sugar, and a packet of Lalvin Red Wine Yeast are all you need to make homemade Instant Pot wine. Oh, and an Instant Pot with a yogurt function, a funnel, and some clear packing tape.

A post shared by David Murphy (@notageek4u) on Mar 2, 2018 at 5:33pm PST

The recipe is pretty in-depth (get the full instructions on his blog post, but here's the gist: Instant Pot wine takes 48 hours to make. After sanitizing your pot, you'll gradually add the ingredients and then cook on low heat using the yogurt function. The wine should then be bottled and stored in a dark and cool place for at least eight days.

Once it's finished, your wine should taste like a Merlot, according to Murphy's experience.

"The grapes in the juice became alive and transformed into something more palatable," Murphy told MUNCHIES. "You can smell dark cherries and raw chocolate on the nose, and you can taste more complex flavors than what you started with.”

Worth the wait? For only $8 to $12, it's definitely a bargain — but we admit that most nights, just grabbing a cheap bottle at the store and uncorking it on the couch is about as much effort as we feel like making. Still, for the Instant Pot devotees among us — and we know there are many — it's nice to know that wine-making is a possibility.

Next, check out the video below for a delicious recipe for pulled pork with summer slaw and apple compote: